Help, Advice, Owners' Discussion and DIY Tutorials on Volvo XC90s. The XC90 proved to be very popular, and very good for Volvo's sales numbers, since its introduction in model year 2003 (North America).

Dear Volvo fans, due to the special conditions we are most of all going through, I am having some hard time finding the following information:

I am a happy owner of a XC90 2006, D5, 185.
I need to replace my turbo. From the Vida, I can see that my turbo number is: 36001171
I found a second hand turbo with the number: 31219697 (possibly for XC90 185 after 2007 ?)
I can see that the two turbos are not exactly the same, in particular my turbo can be detached from the exhaust manifold while the second hand one cannot (turbo+manifold have to be replaced together)
Does someone knows if I can replace my turbo by the second hand one I found ?

rodiram - as I mentioned in my other response to your other post the diesel is not available in the USA. What follows is what I know about Volvo gas engine based turbos, but it should carry over in most parts.

Volvo on gas engines only offers the turbo and manifold as a replacement unit - with the mechanical vacuum diaphragm part of the assembly. I had a case where my turbo was fine, but the flapper was bad which was part of the manifold. Originally I sourced a used unit for the turbo vane and it came as a complete unit. Upon inspection I saw the flapper seat cracked on the manifold.

Many here just rebuild the turbo cartridge and are good to go as the rest is fine. You need to eliminate flapper issues and flapper seat cracks if you want to replace just the turbo cartridge or just rebuild the cartridge.

The gas based Volvo turbos run Mitsubishi turbos - your diesel appears to run a Garett from your post. I believe VW uses Garett turbos so their forums will be a good source of information or rebuilding just the turbo.

A turbo rebuild is pretty simple - usually the problem is the oil ring, a small split washer that keeps oil out of the turbo, wears to a point it cannot seal fully and the bearings. The cause is normal wear and/or the two bearings that keep the turbo spinning freely and aligned are worn. When these wear the turbo has too much play and it wears the oil ring. Rebuild kits have all these parts included. Excessive coke build up on the fins can cause quicker wear.

Rebuilding is easy. Mark the turbo so you can reinstall the vanes in their original balanced position, then clean and disassemble the unit. Examine and replace all the parts from the kit, oil as needed and realign for balance. Usually the rebuild goes without issue. Balance is important.

For a perfect solution, have it balanced by a shop with the ability. They will clean it up, swap out the parts and balance the cartridge. Then all you have to do, if they didn't do it for you, is install it into the manifold configuration.

In your case, if you have the turbo out and the rest of the manifold checks out - bring it to a turbo rebuilder and just have the turbo rebuilt and balanced.

All turbos are basically the same regardless of who makes them. There are standard sizes and the base parts are the same. All that changes are the size of the turbo, the number of fins on the turbo, flat or fast back, and then the mounting set up to get it to plumb into your car's set up. If you are just rebuilding you don't need to pay attention to any of this - just buy the correct rebuild kit for your turbo - leave all the parts not included in the kit the same and reuse.